In Arlen's world there is demons, or corelings as they're called, who rises from the ground when the darkness falls. People try to protect their homes with wards and hoping the wards hold during the night.

Arlen lives with his parents at a small village when the village is attacked by the demons. When his mother is severly wounded and his father stays behind the safety of the wards watching, Arlen starts to wonder why people won't fight back and thinks that there must be some way to fight.Arlen is disappointed in his father's cowardice and leaves his home to discover a way to learn to fight.

The book is also told from Leesha's and Rojer's point of view. Leesha becomes a herb gatherer, healer, and Rojer becomes jongleur after his village is attacked.

We get to know Arlen from young age and see him grow to a very determined, or obsessed, man. Fighting corelings becomes his whole life whic borders on obsession. He loathes his father and the people who are too afraid to fight but I could understand why they were afraid. Sometimes I wished he had just little more understanding with those.

I liked Leesha who was smart and had courage but why must every man want to bed her? And the romance part just came out of the blue. And I just don't believe someone recovers from rape that soon and then soon after has sex in the mud with near complete stranger.

But I did enjoy the book and it left me wondering what happens next. I'm definitely reading the next book! ( )

This book was recommended via LibraryThing. It was one of the better ones it has suggested so far. There were a couple things I wasn't crazy about. How women were treated was a bit over the top. At the end of the book, a new language was introduced. It seemed forced and not needed as the story was going well without it. This is the first book for this author and it does impress me - very readable and cool plot / ideas. This is one of a five book series and I plan on reading the rest of them.2,275 members; 4.1 average rating; 11/11/2016 ( )

I loved this book from start to finish. After my kindle suffered from a slight case of water related death, I had to look to my (large) selection of TBR books next to my bed. This is the one that intrigued me the most.

Ahem...."As darkness falls after sunset, the corelings rise--demons who possess supernatural powers and burn with a consuming hatred of humanity. For hundreds of years the demons have terrorized the night, slowly culling the human herd that shelters behind magical wards--symbols of power whose origins are lost in myth and whose protection is terrifyingly fragile. It was not always this way. Once, men and women battled the corelings on equal terms, but those days are gone. Night by night the demons grow stronger, while human members dwindle under their relentless assault. Now, with hope for the future fading, three young survivors of vicious demon attacks will dare the impossible, stepping beyond the crumbling safety of the wards to risk everything in a desperate quest to regain the secrets of the past. Together, they will stand against the night."

I love the idea of demons who rise at night and attack anyone foolish enough to hang around out there. It is such a cool, terrifying idea. And indeed the attacks are creepy and terrifying. The author, Peter Brett, does a great job of describing the attacks and the after effects of them. The world is nicely realised and feels lived in.

I was unaware when I started this book that it was part of an ongoing series, but I really look forward to reading the other books in the series! ( )

I really enjoyed this book a great deal. It was paced similarly to The Name of the Wind. The storyline was pretty good and the magic system decent. The ending lost my attention, but I will most likely eventually read the sequel. ( )

In a world where demons rise at sunset to attack the humans who only have old wards carved and painted to create barriers to protect them, a boy watches his mother die and see a better way than hiding behind such protections.

The story of Arlen Bales as he grows from a young boy into a man is a fascinating one. The people he meets along the way, the demons he faces and destroys, the fighter and man he becomes. Highly recommended! ( )

Arlen paused in his work, looking up at the lavender wash of the dawn sky. Morning mist still clung to the air, bringing with its damp an acrid taste that was all too familiar. A quiet dread built in his gut as he waited in the morning stillness, hoping that it had been his imagination. He was eleven years old.

Wikipedia in English (1)

Eleven-year-old Arlen lives with his parents on their small farmstead, half a day's ride away from the isolated hamlet of Tibbet's Brook.

As dusk falls upon Arlan's world, a strange mist rises from the ground, a mist carrying nightmares to the surface. A mist that promises a violent death to any foolish enough to brave the coming darkness, for hungry corelings - demons that cannot be harmed by mortal weapons - materialize from the vapours to feed on the living. As the sun sets, people have no choice but to take shelter behind magical wards and pray that their protection holds until the creatures dissolve with the first signs of dawn.

When Arlen's life is shattered by the demon plague, he is forced to see that it is fear, rather than the demons, which truly cripples humanity. Believing that there is more to his world than to live in constant fear, he must risk leaving the safety of his wards to discover a different path.

In the small town of Cutter's Hollow, Leesha's perfect future is destroyed by betrayal and a simple lie. Publicly shamed, she is reduced to gathering herbs and tending an old woman more fearsome than the corelings. Yet in her disgrace, she becomes the guardian of dangerous ancient knowledge.

Orphaned and crippled in a demon attack, young Rojer takes solace in mastering the musical arts of a Jongleur, only to learn that his unique talent gives him unexpected power over the night.

Together, these three young people will offer humanity a last, fleeting chance of survival.

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▾Library descriptions

As darkness falls each night, demons known as the corelings rise, and three young survivors of demon attacks risk everything to recover the secrets of the past to defeat the corelings and stop their relentless assault against humans.